Huckleberry

Lore & Background

The name huckleberry comes from a North American twist on the English dialect words 'hurtleberry' or 'whortleberry' for the bilberry. In North America, it refers to many plants that produce small red, blue, or black berries. It is the common name for several Gaylussacia species and some Vaccinium species, like Vaccinium parvifolium, the red huckleberry. It also applies to other Vaccinium species that locals might call blueberries, especially in New England and parts of Appalachia. Four Gaylussacia huckleberry species are common in eastern North America, most notably G. baccata, the black huckleberry.

Reader's Guide

Huckleberries were traditionally collected by Native American and First Nations people along the Pacific coast, interior British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana for use as food or traditional medicine. In taste, they may be tart or sweet. The fruit is versatile in foods or beverages, including jam, pudding, candy, pie, ice cream, muffins, pancakes, salad dressings, juice, tea, soup, and syrup. Attempts to cultivate certain species of huckleberry plants from seeds have failed, with plants devoid of fruits, possibly due to inability to fully root and replicate native soil chemistry. Huckleberry was one of the few plant species to survive on the slopes of Mount St. Helens when the volcano erupted in 1980, and existed as a prominent mountain-slope bush in 2017. The huckleberry is the state fruit of both Idaho and Montana.

Did You Know?

• Two huckleberry species, V. membranaceum and V. ovatum, were studied for phytochemical content; V. ovatum had greater total polyphenol and anthocyanin content than V. membranaceum.
• The 'garden huckleberry' (Solanum scabrum) is not a true huckleberry but a member of the nightshade family.
• The phrase 'I'm your huckleberry' is an iconic line in the Western film Tombstone (1993), spoken by Val Kilmer playing Doc Holliday.